American Council On Science And Health

Obesity is a national health crisis -- or it isn't. Vaccines cause autism -- or they don't. Think of any current health controversy, and you can be sure that plenty of experts have already taken opposite sides. Some of the most influential and vocal health experts belong to advocacy organizations such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Council on Science and Health.

The intense pain, burning and frequent urination due to cystitis represents one of the most common problems encountered by women. An estimated 7 million American women are sent to their doctors each year by these annoying bladder infections. Cystitis is readily cured with antibiotics, but some women seem to be more susceptible to infections, suffering repeated, painful bouts of the problem.

Some conservatives, angry over what they describe as the "self-appointed intrusion" of other conservatives into the AIDS debate, have risen to defend Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who has been under attack for his outspoken views on how to combat the epidemic. "To ignore reality within our society is to act like ostriches," wrote Douglas O. Lee, chairman of Americans for Nuclear Energy, to ultraconservatives Phyllis Schlafly and Paul M.

The more money that a magazine makes off cigarette advertising, the less likely it is to cover the dangers of smoking, according to a study that suggests that journalistic self-censorship has contributed over the past 25 years to public underestimation of the risks of smoking. The study of 99 U.S. magazines, reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that those that did not carry cigarette ads were more than 40% more likely than the others to cover the hazards of smoking.

For years, scientists have studied specific strategies for reducing stress and lowering high blood pressure. Now a Wyoming researcher has found that the ways in which some people deal--and don't deal--with stress might increase blood pressure. University of Wyoming professor Thomas A. Wright measured the blood pressure of 95 San Francisco counselors and probation officers for juvenile offenders, then asked them to describe how they coped with the most stressful incident in the last 30 days.

Half the schoolchildren in the United States have never had tooth decay, and the rest have substantially fewer cavities than did children at the beginning of the decade, according to a major new survey released Tuesday by the National Institute of Dental Research. Overall, cavities in schoolchildren's teeth have been reduced by 36% since 1980, the survey found, while cavities between teeth--which are the most difficult to treat--have declined by 54% and are now rare.

Studies released Friday by two environmental groups found that numerous toys and plastic teething rings used by children contain a chemical that caused cancer in laboratory animals and called for the removal of all toys made with the chemical.

Federal officials have embraced a familiar food industry theme that's designed to calm fears about pesticides by claiming that the cancer threat posed by natural compounds in food far outweighs any problems from synthetic chemicals. Health officials now argue that most carcinogens present in the diet are the work of nature, not science or industry. The strong emphasis on so-called natural cancer agents was clearly evident at a recent food safety conference in Washington sponsored by the U.S.

People are exposed to a massive number of chemicals in the environment, and scientists know very little about their potential role in causing cancer, according to a new report from the President's Cancer Panel released Thursday. Government and industry should invest much more money in researching the potential risks of such chemicals — and that research should be done before the chemicals come into wide use, not after large numbers of people have been exposed to them, the report said.

An important but obscure aspect of the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of drugs has been in the news in recent months. Called "accelerated approval," this "quick-on, quick-off" mechanism for medicines to reach the marketplace can work to the advantage of drug companies and needy patients alike. Introduced almost two decades ago, accelerated approval permits the FDA to issue what amounts to a limited, or conditional, approval of a new drug that is intended for a "serious or life-threatening disease" and for which there is an "unmet medical need.